This summer, the Executive Board introduced plans to hold a vote of the Society’s membership to determine whether or not SIOP should change its name. After taking member comments into consideration via the SIOP Exchange, the board has made the decision to begin voting on the name change October 1.

The vote on whether to change SIOP’s name will be composed of two steps. First, members will take part in a vote between three popular alternative names to SIOP. This vote will begin October 1 and continue through October 30. Second, members will take part in the name change vote between the winner of the first vote and the current name. This final vote will take place December 4 through January 4.

After consideration of proposed alternatives and previous internal discussions, the board decided on the following three alternatives to go up against the current name:

The Society for Organizational Psychology (TSOP)
Society for Work Psychology (SWP)
Society for Work and Organizational Psychology (SWOP)

Voting will take place online, and SIOP’s voting members will receive an e-mail outlining the process and how to cast their vote. Results of the first vote will be announced in early November, and results of the final name change vote will be announced in mid January. Check www.siop.org and the SIOP Exchange in the coming weeks for updates. To read more about the name change vote, read the full story on the SIOP Web site.

This year’s consortium will take place October 16-17 at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center in Denver. More information about the Leading Edge Consortium, including hotel information, a complete agenda, and a CE credit page can be found on the SIOP Web site.

Nominations are now open for elected positions on SIOP’s Executive Board. The deadline for nominations is midnight EDT on September 30. Please note that the deadline is earlier than years past. All nominees must be members in good standing (current dues paid).

Note: You must submit all of your nominations at one time. For security purposes, the submission system does not allow you to log back on to submit additional nominations. You will need your username and password to nominate. If you cannot remember your username and password, visit the nomination site and request that they be e-mailed to you.

SIOP will begin accepting proposals for the following student and member awards and grants October 5, 2009:

Small Grant Program. This program is aimed at supporting research conducted by SIOP members in both science and practice, an award for promotion of I-O to the public. Provides funding for academic–practitioner research; $20,000 available (maximum of $7,500 per grant).

Raymond A. Katzell Award in I-O Psychology ($3,000 award). This award is designed to recognize a SIOP member who, in a major way, has shown to the general public the importance of work done by I-O psychology for addressing social issues, research that makes a difference for people.

Additional information regarding program focus, eligibility criteria, and submission guidelines for each of these programs can be found in the October 2009 issue of TIP or online here. Awards will be presented at the 25th SIOP Annual Conference in 2010 in Atlanta.

SIOP member Alex Alonso recently received an APA Innovative Practice Award citation for his work to build team training and cultural competencies in healthcare.

Alonso, who has been a senior research scientist at the American Institutes for Research for the last six years, was nominated by SIOP member Rich Cober.

Alonso’s work is an offshoot of TeamSTEPPS™, a training curriculum developed by SIOP member David Baker and his colleagues at AIR. TeamSTEPPS™ is the national standard for team training in healthcare, and Baker also received an APA Innovative Practice Award citation earlier this year for the work (to read more about Baker, click here).

To read more about Alonso’s work, read the full story here. Alonso’s award and work will be featured in an upcoming story in the APA Monitor.